


Letting Go

by whensheflies



Series: Lost at Sea [2]
Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-26
Updated: 2008-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 21:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3826375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whensheflies/pseuds/whensheflies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Jack visits Elizabeth on the day of her wedding, Elizabeth must make the most important choice of her life. (Sequel to Lost at Sea).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Letting Go

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at lj in 2008.

Letting Go

She watched him go, the ache in her heart something unimaginable. A life without Jack? For she knew that this would be, no doubt, the last time she would ever see the pirate who changed her life and opened her world to new possibility. The thought was daunting and made her head spin.

She felt as though she was going to faint or drown. Suddenly, all the air in the world couldn't fill her lungs and yet she gasped for more. She put one hand to her chest, the other against the wall to steady herself. Her heart was pounding; she felt as if it were about to explode.

"Miss Swann?" her maid called from the other room, her footsteps growing louder.

Elizabeth held her breath, keeping completely still as she listened to the approaching footsteps. Her mind was racing with panic and heartbreak. She had to act now or forever be damned to a life of not knowing.

"Miss Swann, is everything alright?" the maid asked again as she entered the parlor.  
The room was empty.

***

Elizabeth cursed her own impulsiveness the second she was outside the gates of her estate. It seemed that Jack had brought a summer storm with him, humidity and rain causing her hair to cling to her damp forehead. The wind ripped her wedding veil from her hair and Elizabeth would have laughed at the absurdity of her predicament if she wasn't so determined to find him. Her dress would be ruined by the rain and mud. So be it.

A woman of her stature would usually get some attention out on the streets, but because of the sudden downpour, Elizabeth looked to be just another citizen of Port Royal running for shelter.

Her eyes desperately searched the chaos of people for him but to no avail. The bird had flown and there would be no caging him now. But she had to keep searching. She had chosen her own fate and there’d be no going back. She ran in the direction of the harbor, clinging to her one last hope. Her feet were aching and the corseted gown she wore made breathing twice as hard as the running. A vision of herself dressed in a sailor boy's garb and boots flooded her consciousness. She laughed gaily, deliriously, at the girl she once was, hanging onto the fact that her actions could take her back to that freedom.

Just then she saw him. He was about to enter a dingy tavern. Elizabeth's heart nearly burst at the sight of him.

"JACK!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs, but a crash of thunder outdid her and Jack did not notice.

She kept running, six leaping strides and she was close enough to touch him. "Jack," she said again, her voice cracking with emotion.

 

Time seemed to slow to a stop as he turned around to face her. “Jack.” she said again, as if repeating his name would keep him there, would force him to forgive all her wrongs towards him. She saw the look in his eyes go from surprise to amusement to a look Elizabeth could not put to words. It felt like forever before he said anything and Elizabeth forced herself not to breathe until he spoke.

“Elizabeth.” he breathed more than said. Elizabeth could hear the ache in his voice and she took a leap of faith.

Time then began to tumble into an unstoppable spiral. She threw herself into Jack’s arms, lips crushed against his, and tried to make it so that she could no longer tell where she ended and Jack began. Jack responded to her hunger with equal fervor, pushing her against the tavern wall, sliding his knee between her legs.

“Will’s not going to be happy.” Jack said, lifting his face free for a moment. A devilish smirk played across his kiss-swollen lips.

Elizabeth frowned at the mention of her fiancé and responded only by pulling Jack’s face down for another searing, deep kiss.

Elizabeth wasn’t surprised when she felt Jack’s hands lifting the many layers of her wedding gown. She wasn’t even offended that he would take her right there, in public. She wanted this. The rough, free feeling of a pirate fingers unlacing her corset and slipping inside the material to tease.

She gasped when he filled her, throwing her head back against the stone wall, losing herself to the raw sensation of painful pleasure. She wrapped her legs around Jack’s waist, meeting his every move with abandon.

When Jack finally set her back down, she swayed against him, burying her face in his neck, soaking up his scent and the feel of him. “I’m so sorry.” she cried.

Jack pulled back, kissing her tenderly. “I don’t think I’m the one you should be apologizing to.”

“But, you know I can’t. I can’t go with you. I can’t do this.”

“I’m not the one who chased me out in the rain, love.” Jack grinned, gold teeth glinting in the sunlight breaking through the clouds.

“I’m sorry, Jack. So sorry.”

“Elizabeth, you’ve given me more than I ever could have asked for…but you’ve a life to lead that I cannot be a part of.” said Jack.

“But I don’t know how I’ll live without you. And the sea.”

Jack pushed some of the damp hair away from her face and kissed her one last time. “You’ll marry our lovely William, and you’ll live a perfect life and have perfect children. You’ll be fine, love. And don’t worry about the sea, it’ll always be there for you when you need it again. But now I need one more thing from you.”

“Anything.” She breathed.

“You need to go. Before they notice that the Jack Sparrow has kidnapped you, which I have not thank you very much, and you need to get married. Now, I want you to walk with your head held high like the pirate I know you are.”

“I can do that.” Elizabeth assured him, though tears were already pouring from her eyes.

“And don’t you dare look back. You go all the way back to your pretty house on the hill and you don’t look back.” Jack said. Elizabeth could have died for the look in her pirate’s eyes.

“Oh, Jack…I—”

“Save it for the whelp.” Jack said with a smile.

Elizabeth nodded and pressed her lips to his once more, turned and ran. And as much as she wanted to, she didn’t look back.  



End file.
